Happy Solstice to all! Cherith and I made it safely to Hanoi, we were doubtful for a while condsidering the 7000 near-accidents en route from the airport. We quickly learned that the driving techniques lack stop signs, signalling, watching for pedestrians, and load/weight restrictions (i.e. pigs, water bottles, bags of rice, construction materials stacked on top of little motorbikes). A neat discovery is how the horn is their main form of defensive driving. Honking seems to indicate "you better make room for me or I'll run you over!" We also realized we forgot our face masks at home...a staple for all Hanoi drivers, as the fumes, dust, and smog are quite overpowering. We will be heading to Halong Bay and Sapa over the next week. We are very anxious to get our photos uploaded, as
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